57th International Simulation and Gaming Association’s Conference 2026
The Science of Gaming and Simulation in a World of Systemic Crises
We are happy to announce the 2026 conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA) to be hosted by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
It is the second time of the ISAGA Conference to come to Stockholm, and the 2013 conference held at the inner city campus of KTH was one that sat new standards for the scientific outlets of the community with the Springer LNCS proceedings.
The 2026 edition will again focus on the scientific side of the domain of Gaming and Simulation, and will dive deeper into the scientific grounds of the method, beyond the utilitarian level. At the same time, the number of crises and systemic relationships between these call for a re-emergence of the urgent needs for and development of gaming and simulation methodology as a new wave of the 1970’s and 1990’s steps forward.
The conference will build on the forthcoming paper from the ISAGA Special Interest Group on Game Science, which produced a paper that defined the framework of a Game Science and addressed the ontological and epistemological levels of gaming and simulation. At the conference, we invite senior and junior scholars to engage in meaningful discussions and further definition of this framework towards the broader body of methodological knowledge that exists within ISAGA.
Discover ISAGA 2026 Stockholm, where leading experts gather to advance the science of gaming and simulation addressing today’s global systemic crises. Join us at KTH Flemingsberg to connect, learn, and contribute to impactful solutions.
ISAGA 2026 Stockholm
Dates: June 22 – 25, 2026
Location: KTH Royal Institute of Technology at Campus Flemingsberg.
Discover the forefront of simulation and gaming science at ISAGA 2026, hosted at KTH Flemingsberg. Connect with experts, attend insightful sessions, and engage in discussions addressing systemic crises through innovative gaming and simulation solutions.
Why join?
Since the 1970s, the ISAGA community has gathered to develop the field of gaming and simulation, as a method to address, learn and design for complex problems. Whilst the method has matured and is now to be considered a professional and accepted field, the scientific acceptance of gaming and simulation has been lagging and is out of sync with the current data-driven and AI-focused paradigm. Many subbranches have formed new professional communities (for instance gaming for learning, and game studies in terms of the concept of play), but the academic acceptance of scientists using games goes in waves. We need to strengthen the scientific rigor to be able to increase the impact of gaming and simulation studies.
At the 2026 conference, we dig into the deeper scientific rigor behind gaming and simulation, building on the work of the ISAGA SIG on Game Science. We ask ourselves the questions: what is there to be known through games? And which realities do we accept and embrace? What does this mean for validity of studies using gaming and simulation?
Are you senior faculty or a young aspiring researcher in the domain, and do you want to spend a week in Stockholm to work on these questions? Then the ISAGA 2026 conference is for you!